Shelter in Place

<p>The pandemic made our worlds physically smaller. It limited our ability to come and go as we pleased. While events like these can create a kind of restless cabin-fever they also provide us with opportunities to look deeply into the familiar and into ourselves. Shawn Pittard invites us to explore our own backyards our neighborhoods our local waters-to discover the small gods and ordinary mysteries that will reveal themselves to the patient observer.</p><p></p><p>-----------</p><p></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>The poems make their way as we all must through the labyrinth to the pandemic's end where </span><em style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>Oil futures were our futures again./ The lonely still looked to the moon</em><span style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>. So too these poems like koans shine a contemplative light.</span></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>-Susan Kelly-DeWitt author of <em>Frangible Operas</em></strong></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>Pittard's self-effacing wisdom coupled with his spare radiant language reminds us that even in the face of decay and inevitable death we can be consoled by the everyday miracles and wonders of the natural world.</span></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(29 29 29 1)>-Moira Magneson author of <em>In the Eye of the Elephant</em></strong></p><p></p><p></p>